It’s an unfortunately truth that skin cancer runs in my family. But as such, the importance of proper sun protection has been drilled into my brain essentially since birth, and you’ll never find me laying out on a beach or in the pool without a thick layer of SPF 50 (at least) slathered over my skin from head to toe. That said, I still find myself envious of those who emerge from weekend trips to the cape or tropical vacations with a dewy, sun-kissed tan. The solution—a faux glow—is fairly obvious, but I’d never had much luck applying self-tanner without getting weird streaks or ending up looking more orange than golden. Until I tried Isle of Paradise’s self-tanning drops.
This handy little bottle of self-tanning liquid is intended to be mixed in with your regular body and face moisturizers to gently build an even glow without any of the annoyances or difficulties of more traditional mousses or creams. (You know, like standing around your apartment naked for an hour before washing off, only to find you accidentally doubled back on one leg and completely missed a patch on your back.) It comes in three shades—light, medium and dark—which correspond more with your natural skin tone than your desired result and was formulated by celebrity tanning expert Jules Von Hep, who’s worked with the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Moss, to name a few.
All you have to do is put some moisturizer in your palm, drip a few drops of self-tanner into the moisturizer, mix together and apply. Two to four drops will give you a lighter, more delicate glow, while adding ten or 12 will help you achieve the deepest glow for that particular shade range. And while many self-tanning mousses work much faster than the Isle of Paradise drops, the idea here is that they’ll help you slowly build and maintain a more natural glow over time. A word to the wise from two pale PureWow editors: be conservative with the drops at first. “A little goes a long way, and they can look kind of intense if you go overboard and aren’t someone who tans easily,” they warn.
The drops are also infused with skin nourishing ingredients like avocado, coconut and chia seed to keep your skin hydrated and happy. Just in time to start working on that faux summer glow.
